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Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 31-September 4, 2005
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Stage 2 - August 31: Swan Hill - Manangatang, 88.4 km
Clarke on top at end of Day 1
By Rod Morris in Manangatang
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A day of high drama, highlighted the opening to the Tattersall's Cup - Tour of the Murray River today, with Victorian young gun Simon Clarke snatching the overall lead. Starting at Swan Hill and finishing two stages later at Manangatang, the tour saw two riders ferried to hospital after separate race falls.
Former world junior track champion, Michael Ford suffered a hip injury and was forced to withdraw from the tour, while Tasmanian Simon Van der Aa endured horrific facial injuries in an accident just outside Nyah West. Ford went down in a rather innocuous fall 26 km into the afternoon stage, with New Zealanders, Gordon McCauley and Matthew Haydock and Victorian Daniel Nelms. But after receiving medical treatment at the scene of the fall, Ford reluctantly had to concede defeat.
McCauley was able to regain his place in the tour, but finished more than 20 minutes down on the leaders and is almost certainly out of contention. McCauley won the Tour of Gippsland, which was the opening event in the 2005 Tattersall's Cup series and was considered one of this week's main chances.
Barcelona Olympian Robert McLachlan won the morning criterium stage in Swan Hill and Tasmanian Bernard Sulzberger collected the spoils of victory as the tour entourage hit Manangatang in the afternoon. But it was Clarke who found himself in the prized yellow jersey, which signifies the tour leader. Clarke finished third to McLachlan in Stage 1, but won enough intermediate bonuses to pinch the lead.
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In the second stage, Clarke soon found position at the head of the peloton and at around the 32 km mark, was part of a 10 man breakaway group, which - in the end - were never headed by the bunch. Clarke eventually finished third to Sulzberger and South Australian Stephen Cunningham in the 10 man sprint to the line.
But even that final sprint had its drama. Sulzberger was preparing to make his move for the finish line at around the 600 m mark when he clashed pedals with Adelaide's Mathew Rex. "The impact undid my left shoe and for a little while it took all my effort to stay upright and get my foot back into the shoe," Sulzberger said. "It was good to get a win, because since the Tasmanian tour, I have been a bit sick with the 'flu. But I've been able to get away to a good start this week and I'm well placed, so I might be able to give the General Classification a bit of a shake," he added.
However he's going to have the wrest the yellow jersey away from a determined Simon Clarke. "I spent all the Tasmanian Tour chasing Shaun Higgerson and couldn't catch him, so I am fairly concentrated on winning this event, he (Sulzberger) is going to have to catch me if he can," Clarke said.
Clarke was the real star of the day, as he also took the lead in both the Sprint and King of the Mountain championships.
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The other surprise packet today was national mountain bike champion, Chris Jongewaard of South Australia. After a solid Tasmanian tour where he finished ninth, Jongewaard has already claimed third position on General Classification, at 21 seconds behind Clarke. Morning stage winner Rob McLachlan missed the afternoon break and fell from second to 11th at 1'34 behind the leader.
Former World Cup time trial (track) champion, Ben Kersten is also amongst this week's road tour entrants and after the opening two stages, is 32nd at 2.17 minutes. Another entrant who has won the hearts of the general public and the interest of the cycling media is current world women's individual pursuit champion, Katie Mactier. Unfortunately for Mactier however, the standard of her male counterparts and the tough weather conditions, forced her well down the GC list to 79th at 21'14.
The five day - 10-stage tour continues tomorrow with a criterium in Merbein just outside Mildura and an afternoon 80.4 km road race from Merbein to Wentworth.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Hey Dot come and check the Tour of the Murray out!
- Steven Pilson from Victoria on the startline for stage two
- Katie Mactier on the startline with her VIS teammates
- The field makes its way from Swan Hill to Manangatang
- Tommy Nankervis (L) and Mathew Rex on the front of the bunch
- In windy conditions a gap soon opened up not far from the start
- Andrew Roe from South Australia in action during stage two
- Scott McGory (C) an Olympic Gold Medalist on the Tour
- Russell Van Hout (R) drives the lead group
- Colombia Selle Italia teammates Trent Wilson (L) and Russell Van Hout on stage two
- The riders string out during a windy stage heading towards Manangatang
- The third group on the road with Katie Mactier in amongst the men
- Riders are waved past the injured Simon Van Der Aa on the narrow roads near Nyah West
- The second group on the road about two minutes behind the leaders
- Stephen Cunningham from South Australia happy to be on the Tour of the Murray
- Joe McDonnell from New South Wales in the lead group
- The leaders approaching the finish in Manangatang
- Thirsty work for eventual winner Bernard Sulzberger from Tasmania
- Simon Clarke from Victoria in yellow during stage two
- The leaders cross a railway line around 20kms from the finish
- Bernard Sulzberger (far right) takes out the stage into Manangatang
- The podium (L-R): Stephen Cunningham (2nd) Bernard Sulzberger (1st) and Simon Clarke (3rd)
- Chris Jongewaard zips up his Subaru Most Aggressive rider's jersey
- Simon Clarke in his RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Points leader's jersey
- Simon Clarke takes a 14 second lead into stage three of the tour
Results
1 Bernard Sulzberger 2.08.08 2 Stephen Cunningham 3 Simon Clarke 4 Luke Bettany 5 Joe McDonnell 6 Troy Glennan 7 Richard Moffatt 8 Mathew Rex 9 Chris Jongewaard 10 Sean Finning 11 Tommy Nankervis 1.20 12 Aaron Salisbury 13 Robert McLachlan 14 Bradley Norton 15 Nash Kent 16 Daniel Burtt 17 Scott Peoples 18 Ben Kersten 19 David Hiley 20 Wesley Sulzberger 21 Patrick Shaw 22 Andrew Naylor 23 Trent Wilson 24 Peter Mueller 25 Peter Milostic 26 Cameron Wise 27 Scott McGrory 28 Tim Hucker 29 David McKenzie 30 Stuart Shaw 31 George Bunt 32 Adrian Salter 33 Russell Van Hout 34 David Salton 1.29 35 Peter Herzig 2.16 36 Kieren Cameron 37 Vaughan Bowman 38 Trent Stevenson 39 David Tozer 40 Andrew Graham 41 Peter McDonald 42 Kyle Marwood 43 Brendan Brooks 44 Adrian Hanson 45 Matthew Goss 46 Timothy Decker 47 Heath Keenan 48 Peter Dawson 49 Brendan Hill 50 David Kemp 51 Daniel Furmston 52 Luke Pledger 2.54 53 Scott Brown 54 Steven Robb 55 Darren Lapthorne 56 Michael Hardy 57 James Maebus 58 Charles Howlett 59 Brendan O'Connell 60 Nicholas Wood 61 Steven Pilson 62 John Walker 63 Bradley Payne 64 Ben Isaksen 3.39 65 Josh Smith 5.13 66 Damien Turner 67 Greg Rossiter 8.28 68 Matthew Gilbert 15.37 69 Casey Munro 16.23 70 Scott Jensen 71 Christopher Jenkins 72 Warren Scott 73 Robert Cater 74 Matt Haydock 75 Samuel Rix 76 Alexander Smyth 77 Grant Irwin 78 Jeremy Davis 79 Andrew Roe 80 Cameron Bowden 81 Simon Walker 82 Matthew Jensen 83 Katie Mactier 84 Grant Webster 85 Simon Pearson 19.53 86 Jason Hegert 87 Matthew Delahunty 88 Robert Lyte 89 Gordon McCauley 19.59 90 Brad Glennan 31.54 91 William Murray 92 Robert Booker 93 Daniel Nelms 32.30 94 Stephen Rossendell 33.20 DNF Andrew Cochrane DNF Simon Van Der Aa DNF Sam Freeman DNF Michael Ford Sprints Mocka 24 - Woorinen Primary School 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 David Salton 2 3 Simon Clarke 1 Mocka 34 - Pira Silos 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Matt Haydock 1 Mocka 42 - Nyah West Hotel 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Simon Clarke 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 Mocka 47 - Nyah West Primary School 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Simon Clarke 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 Mocka 62 - Chinkapook Hall 1 Simon Clarke 3 pts 2 Troy Glennan 2 3 Stephen Cunningham 1 Hill Climbs Cat.4 - Mocka 51 1 Simon Clarke 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Sean Finning 1 Cat.4 - Mocka 53 1 Stephen Cunningham 3 pts 2 Simon Clarke 2 3 Bernard Sulzberger 1 General classification after stage 2 1 Simon Clarke 3.10.43 2 Bernard Sulzberger 0.14 3 Chris Jongewaard 0.21 4 Stephen Cunningham 0.29 5 Troy Glennan 0.31 6 Luke Bettany 0.37 7 Joe McDonnell 0.39 8 Mathew Rex 9 Richard Moffatt 0.43 10 Sean Finning 0.54 11 Robert McLachlan 1.34 12 Stuart Shaw 1.45 13 Tommy Nankervis 1.55 14 Cameron Wise 1.57 15 Adrian Salter 16 Scott Peoples 17 Russell Van Hout 1.59 18 David McKenzie 19 Peter Milostic 2.00 20 Nash Kent 2.01 21 David Hiley 22 Trent Wilson 23 Patrick Shaw 2.02 24 Aaron Salisbury 2.05 25 Wesley Sulzberger 26 Peter Mueller 2.10 27 Andrew Naylor 2.17 28 Tim Hucker 29 Daniel Burtt 30 George Bunt 31 Bradley Norton 32 Ben Kersten 33 Scott McGrory 34 Peter Dawson 2.51 35 Peter McDonald 2.54 36 Andrew Graham 2.57 37 Brendan Hill 3.01 38 Brendan Brooks 39 Peter Herzig 3.13 40 David Tozer 41 Adrian Hanson 42 Kieren Cameron 43 Vaughan Bowman 44 Timothy Decker 45 David Kemp 46 Bradley Payne 3.35 47 John Walker 3.39 48 James Maebus 49 Brendan O'Connell 50 Darren Lapthorne 3.46 51 Nicholas Wood 3.51 52 Trent Stevenson 4.02 53 Ben Isaksen 4.36 54 Matthew Goss 5.00 55 Scott Brown 5.38 56 Heath Keenan 7.07 57 Luke Pledger 7.45 58 Michael Hardy 59 Josh Smith 7.57 60 David Salton 8.25 61 Greg Rossiter 9.13 62 Kyle Marwood 9.14 63 Daniel Furmston 64 Steven Pilson 9.52 65 Charles Howlett 66 Steven Robb 11.59 67 Damien Turner 14.18 68 Matthew Gilbert 16.18 69 Casey Munro 17.06 70 Matt Haydock 17.14 71 Simon Walker 17.20 72 Robert Cater 73 Grant Webster 17.45 74 Christopher Jenkins 18.33 75 Gordon McCauley 20.32 76 Jason Hegert 20.50 77 Jeremy Davis 21.14 78 Cameron Bowden 79 Katie Mactier 80 Alexander Smyth 23.21 81 Warren Scott 82 Scott Jensen 83 Matthew Jensen 84 Grant Irwin 85 Matthew Delahunty 24.44 86 Andrew Roe 25.28 87 Samuel Rix 88 Robert Lyte 26.51 89 Simon Pearson 90 Brad Glennan 33.16 91 Stephen Rossendell 34.12 92 William Murray 38.52 93 Robert Booker 94 Daniel Nelms 43.42 Road Safe Mildura Sprint Championship 1 Simon Clarke 18 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 14 3 Robert McLachlan 13 4 Troy Glennan 9 5 Bernard Sulzberger 8 6 Stuart Shaw 6 7 Patrick Shaw 3 8 Peter McDonald 3 9 Gordon McCauley 3 10 Sean Finning 2 11 Richard Moffatt 2 12 David Salton 2 13 Mathew Rex 2 14 Casey Munro 2 15 Russell Van Hout 2 16 David McKenzie 2 17 Peter Dawson 2 18 Stephen Cunningham 1 19 Matt Haydock 1 20 Peter Milostic 1 Tourism Victoria King Of The Mountain Championship 1 Simon Clarke 5 pts 2 Stephen Cunningham 3 3 Chris Jongewaard 2 4 Sean Finning 1 5 Bernard Sulzberger 1 Sunraysia Daily - Criterium Championship 1 Robert McLachlan 10 pts 2 Simon Clarke 9 3 Stuart Shaw 8 4 Bernard Sulzberger 7 5 Tommy Nankervis 6 6 Gordon McCauley 5 7 Scott Peoples 4 8 Cameron Wise 3 9 Peter Dawson 2 10 Adrian Salter 1 Most Aggressive Rider 1 Gordon McCauley 2 pts 1 Chris Jongewaard 2
